Christmas in September
by marymin
Summary: Kido and Kano wrap presents for their friends. [Anon request for Kanokido]


"I can't believe we left this to the last minute," Kido grumbled, rolling out the red and green striped paper. Kano shrugged, draping himself over her shoulder to get at the extra pair of scissors by her knees.

"We always wrap Christmas presents the night before." Scissors retrieved, he sat back on his heels and opened and closed them once or twice.

"And that was fine when we had two presents to give," Kido replied, laying a diary with a strange design— a fish with an oddly masculine face— down on the paper to measure.

Kano's eyes ranged over her stack of presents, and then settled on a plush toy near the front. "Yeah, about that, what is Konoha going to do with two of the same dinosaur?"

"Two of the s—?" Kido turned to look, and Kano held up a stuffed red triceratops. "—crap," she swore, turning back to the identical one that she'd bought.

"It's ok," he teased, closing the blades of the scissors around one of the horns. "I'll snip this off and it'll be a two-ceratops. A duoceratops?"

She snatched the scissors from him. "Under no circumstances are you going to mutilate that poor creature. We'll give mine as a joint gift, and then you'll return yours to the store tomorrow." He thought about arguing that it was Christmas tomorrow, and all the shops would be closed, but put the dinosaur away instead and came over to watch. Kido had cut the wrapping paper to size, and now was folding it neatly around the journal. She taped the edges closed, and Kano admired her hands as she worked, leaving no uneven ends on the paper.

"That journal's ugly," he commented cheerfully. She glanced at him.

"It's for Momo, she'll probably love it." The young idol's strange taste was a source of constant amusement to all of them, but it could be difficult to accommodate. "You still haven't started wrapping."

This was true, but he didn't feel like starting, even though they had less than twelve hours until everyone would show up at the base. He poked through the wrapping paper rolls restlessly, and then picked up a roll of sparkly red ribbon. It was already unrolling itself, so he helped it, unrolling a foot long piece and snipping it off.

Meanwhile, Kido had moved on to wrapping Mary's present, a pair of matching fluffy mittens and socks. He scooted over on his knees to sit behind her, and started gathering her long hair up in a ponytail. She raised an eyebrow at him, but didn't swat him away. He figured this was because everyone else had long gone to bed, and he was thankful for it.

He tied the red ribbon in a big bow in her green hair, and then commented, "Christmas colors."

Kido snorted, putting the properly wrapped present aside. "If you're not going to do your own, you can pass me Shintaro's gift. It's that game over there." He obliged, though not before snickering over the overly-macho cover.

"This is really a thing he's into?" Kano asked, passing it over her shoulder.

"Who knows," she replied, laying it down on the paper. As she continued to work, he unfolded a sheet of tissue paper and began to twist it into a flower shape. As the petals took form beneath his fingers he glanced at the pile of the things he still had to wrap, but still couldn't muster the energy to tackle them. He finished the flower and tucked it into her hair. She didn't even react this time, though he thought he saw color rising in her cheeks. But she was turned away from him, so it was hard to tell.

She was almost done now, and he hadn't even started, but he began another flower, snipping at the paper to shape it exactly how he wanted. She put down the final wrapped present with a sigh.

"I'm going to bed," she announced, standing up and stretching. Somehow, the flower in her hair stayed in place. She towered over him for a moment, before he hopped to his feet as well.

"Aren't you gonna ask," he teased, grinning up at her.

She rolled her eyes. It was a tradition, by now. "What are you getting me for Christmas, then?"

"The joy of me being in your life is enough!" he all but shouted, the same answer as ever. She cleared her throat, but he didn't ask back.

"Kano…?" she prompted, and his grin widened.

"You know what I want for Christmas," he told her, and he offered her the sad and wilting tissue paper flower.

She shook her head. "Not this year," she replied, then turned on her heel and left him with the flower to wrap his own presents for the holiday.


End file.
